Understanding Overprint

Overprint: This function is available in all print production programs. Understanding how overprint works is essential for any designer to get the best results for his printed material.

The definition of overprint is that in most cases, when two objects of different colors overlap, they knockout - they won’t print on top of each other. To intentionally print one layer of ink on top of another is to overprint. This can be useful to terminate gaps between touching colors, for instance if a black object is printed on top of a magenta object.

This is in most cases the default setting for text set to print in default [black] color of your program, but sometimes you have to set objects and text to overprint.
In InDesign and Illustrator you can set your fills or strokes to overprint in the ‘Attributes’ palette.

Overprint preview: In InDesign and Illustrator, the results of overprinting objects can be previewed by selecting View>Overprint preview, or pressing ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+Y.
In Acrobat this can be viewed by selecting Advanced>Overprint preview, or pressing ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+Y.
A good rule is to check Overprint preview for every project, even though you don’t use overprint intentionally, to see if everything looks the way you intended.
Also, if you view your seperations you can see that overprinting objects do not knock out other objects.

Note: Overprint should be used with caution, incorrect use can produce unwanted results.

Zooming

PhotoShop: Holding SHIFT while zooming in and out with the zoom tool, will affect all your open documents in PhotoShop.

Shortcuts to styles

InDesign: To speed up your workflow, you can easily create your own custom shortcuts for your character and paragraph styles. Open up the edit style dialog box by double clicking the desired style (or right-clicking and selecting ‘Edit…’). In the ‘General’ tab there is an option to insert your own custom shortcut. Insert your handy shortcut and away you go.
NOTE: InDesign will dispay if- or if not the desired shortcut is in use by some other action.

Eyedropping

InDesign: The eyedropper tool in InDesign behaves a bit differently than the eyedropper in other programs, especially regarding text. For instance you can pick up character and paragraph styles from a formatted text and apply it to the text you have selected.

Also, when you pick up a text style, the eyedropper cursor changes to a filled eydropper. With the eyedropper filled you can drag and select pieces of text you want to format with that style. While the eyedropper is filled, to avoid having to select the eyropper tool over and over again to pick up new styles, you can hold ALT to temporarily set the eyedropper to the default state (empty eyedropper) and pick up a new style.

Working with tables and styling tables is really easy with the eyedropper tool in InDesign, as you can pick up a style from a whole cell within the table, and drop the style to another cell or a row of cells at once by dragging.

Placing Text

InDesign: You can place text into InDesign and have it thread over pages and have InDesign create new pages as needed. To place a textfile for multiple pages simply hold SHIFT while placing, and place it on the disired page.
On the same note, you can have your text placed in threaded columns also. Just create textboxes (columns) on a master page and remember to thread them on the master page. Then hold SHIFT while placing and place the text into the first column on the page in the document (do not place it on the master page). InDesign will place your text in the threaded columns and add pages as needed.

Layer Styles

PhotoShop: Creating layer styles is a useful design tool. While creating a layer style you can set various setting within the style by click-dragging over the image itself. For instance, create a new drop shadow style and with the Layer Style window open, you can drag the shadow to a desired place on the image.
Also regarding layer styles you can go to “Scale Effects” by right clicking on a layer style in the layers list. Within the Scale Effects dialog box, you can scale the styles for a selected layer, by percentage.

On that note, remember you can copy a layer style between layers by…:
CS1: Dragging the style in the layer palette to a different layer.
CS2: Hold ALT and drag the style icon to a the desired layer (In CS2, dragging the style will simply move it between layers).

Scaling contents with frame

InDesign: InDesign places all imported graphics into frames. If you drag the frame to scale it your graphic will normally not scale with the container. Also in text frames, when you drag and scale them, you only scale your boxed container but the font size is intact.

To scale frame contents with the box container, hold SHIFT+CTRL (SHIFT+Command) while scaling. This will scale your contents along with the frame. If the frame contains text this will scale the font size along with the frame.

Saving time on Save

Illustrator: Having trouble with time consuming document Saves? You can set your options so that Illustrator takes less time Saving documents.
First of all a good rule while you work is to Place your images into Illustrator using Links. This allows you to create a link to the original image and Illustrator will just display a low-quality preveiw for your images. If you choose not to use linked images, Illustrator will embed the images and save them every time you save the document. When you open Place and select your image for placing, remember to select ‘Link’ from the side menu, as seen below.

Secondly, when you Save your document for the first time as ‘.ai’ you have the option to Save with or without PDF preview and compression.

A good practice for fast saving is to deselect ‘Create PDF Compatible File’ and also ‘Use Compression’. If you use these settings Illustrator will create a PDF preview of your document an compress it a little bit, and that can take some time, especially when using embedded images.

NOTE: Embedding images can be very useful when you have to send your editable .ai files to someone else, but can slow down your workflow if you embed them right from the start.

Using ‘Create PDF Compatible File’ can also be useful, for instance when you have to import .ai files into another program like InDesign or PhotoShop. If your document has no PDF preview you are likely to recive an error message in these programs, saying your document is not compatible for import.

PDF settings for print

InDesign: InDesign offers a good way to create a press production pdf similar to Acrobat Distiller. However, often you have to create these settings yourself so they are compatible for any print studio, similar to creating a custom profile for Acrobat Distiller. The following settings should be applied to create a highly compatible PDF export in InDesign, ideal for print production (not for your office BubbleJet).

To begin with you should go to File>PDF Export Presets>Define. A window pops up showing all the pre-defined settings shipped with InDesign. The ‘Print’ setting in the pre-defined settings can be used for print production but might not be compatible for every print studio.
Click ‘New’ to add your custom preset and set it just like shown here:

Name your profile anything you like, be sure to set Compatibility to ‘PDF 1.3′ and select ‘Optimize for fast web view’ but do not select the other options. Advance to the next tab:

Be sure to set your settings as shown here in the Compression tab. For Color and Grayscale images, set it to ‘Bicubic downsampling to’ and the number to 300 pix per inch for images over 450 pix per inch. Set your Compression to Automatic and Image Quality to Maximum. This means the PDF produced will contain full quality images, but images that are over 450 pix per inch will be downsampled to 300 (300 ppi is in most cases the highest printing quality available). Set ‘Do not downsample’ for monochrome images and the compression to ‘CCITT Group 4′.

Set the PDF to include printer marks and bleed (optional) and set the Transparency Flattener to High Resolution.

When you have completed these settings click OK to save them. Now when you go to File>PDF Export Presets, your profile should be in the bottom of the list.

More or less Nudge

InDesign/Illustrator: Nudging a few pixels or units using the cursor keys during design is extremely useful. Furthermore you can hold SHIFT while nudging to nudge even further (normally one Nudge times ten). Hold SHIFT+ALT (SHIFT+Option) to copy your object that distance. This will work for most graphic programs including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Flash.
In InDesign you can also hold SHIFT+Ctrl (SHIFT+Command) while nudging with the cursor keys and you will move your object even shorter than a normal nudge (one Nudge / 10)

You can also set your nudge distance:

In InDesign: Open ‘Preferences’ and select the ‘Units & Increments’ tab, under ‘Keyboard Increments’ you can insert a number for ‘Cursor Key’. The number you set is the distance an object is moved with the cursor key (based on your unit settings).

In Illustrator: Open ‘Preferences’ and select the ‘General’ tab, there you can insert a number for ‘Keyboard Increment’. The number you set is the distance an object is moved with the cursor key (based on your unit settings).